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Wise About Water

Earlier this summer, the world lost a lake. A lava flow from Mount Kilauea in Hawaii entered the lake and boiled it away in about 5 hours. In Pakistan, a month later, a new lake formed temporarily after a portions of a glacier sheared off and fell into a large …

Earlier this summer, the first Emerald Ash Borers were found in Vermont. Within a few weeks, several other locations in the state were confirmed to have this invasive insect pest. Its arrival wasn’t much of a surprise. Neighboring states and Canadian provinces have been coping with EAB for several years now …

Maintaining a healthy lake shore and home garden sometimes includes taking steps to reduce insect damage or manage weedy plants. Though there are lots of remedies to be found at the local hardware store or garden shop, reaching for a chemical solution or weed whacker may not be the best option for …

The Lake Champlain Basin Program has long maintained an atlas of information about the Champlain Basin. Covering topics from population to land use, the Atlas provided an opportunity to explore the basin from many perspectives. This spring, the Atlas was updated with the most recent available data and now includes …

Last week, I attended a pollinator lecture by the New England Wildflower Society. A botanist by training, I knew quite a bit about pollination, plant growth and the role insects and other creatures play in the plant life cycle, but as part of the presentation, I learned about the many …

Our medicine cabinets contain a huge variety of compounds that help us stay healthy. Many of them make an incredible difference in a person’s ability to live a happy and healthy life. When taken by the wrong person or in the wrong dose, however, they can have the opposite effect …

Spring has finally arrived and if you’re like me, you have a long list of things to do outside. High on many lists is lawn care. As you head out to enjoy the sun and your wonderful yard, take some time to think about downstream water quality. Everything we do …

The Lakes and Ponds Program has been working with lakeshore property owners for several years, helping them find ways to protect shorelines for the health of aquatic organisms and overall water quality protection. The Lake Wise Program has been steadily developing fact sheets and events that focus on small projects …

It doesn’t make the news much these days, but acid rain reaches Vermont lakes. Each year, Watershed Management Division staff sample acid-impaired and acid-stressed lakes to track changes in water quality and evaluate effects on the biological communities. They’ve been doing this for 40 years – an incredible data trove …

The Vermont Lakes and Ponds Program has released updated information on the management of aquatic invasive species. In 2017, the Legislature enacted new rules designed to protect water resources, prevent infestations and spread, initiate rapid response where feasible, and minimize the economic and environmental impacts of aquatic invasive species. The …